I called for the firing of Purpura almost immediately after he was made GM. I knew he would be a train wreck. He's a train wreck. Garner has juiced just about every bit of ability of of this team as is possible, with exception of constantly playing Ensberg (which I think may be orders coming from up high).
That's true. After reading some of the other posts, I think I will switch my vote. Purpura is the person who needs to be fired first. (I really miss Gerry Hunsicker).
Last I checked, Gerry Hunsicker doesn't have any kind of magical power to make Lance Berkman and Luke Scott start hitting. Last I checked, Biggio would still be in the lineup for obvious reasons, even if Hunsicker were calling the shots. Nobody's saying Purpura and Garner are perfect, but the biggest issues with this team right now are influenced by horrible luck (Berkman).
Is Purpura to blame for not resigning Pettitte and possibly influencing Clemens not to come back here? Or is Drayton? If Purpura had an influence or decision in not resigning Pettitte he should be fired on the spot right now. Especially with the cost of obtaining bad pitching now. I know there's still 100 games left but i don't see the Yankees making the playoffs with that AL Central division (parallel universe of the NL Central), which is why he might have come here instead. Opposing teams used to fear having to play Oswalt, Pettite, and the Rocket. Then Backe always came up clutch when needed. Now you throw in or Jennings or Sampson and we'd retake the division no problem or have been in 1st the whole time. We should have added Woody a couple years back when he made public he wanted to play for us. Instead Drayton wanted to save a few million and wait till the end of his career. At least he blew it signing Clemens earlier in his career in a differnt way when he wanted to come home. I think Garner is basically a yes man and takes most of his orders from above. Playing Biggio, Everett, Lane, or anyone else. However, if he can get Lidge back to normal or even an awesome set up man, we could trade him for another much needed bat. 90% of teams at least need bullpen help, whether set up man or closer.
The team has more problems than just bad luck. Even if Berkman was hitting, we would be .500 at best. It is true, Hunsicker would not have an influence on people like Berkman. But it is the small moves that Hunsiker was so great at (e.g. Carl Everett), which Tim has shown a complete inability to excel at.
Our goal should not be to be mediocre. That would still be bad. The team should be attempting to excel not to settle b/c we are luckily in a bad division.
I blame us more than anything. Why the heck do we think we deserve to make the playoffs every year? If we had resigned Pettitte our payroll and still signed Lee our payroll would've been over $100 million for the second straight year. Then what if Clemens had come back to us which is may very well have occurred if we had got Pettitte? Our payroll would have been right there with that of the Red Sox which is way too high for the Astros. We've just run out of budget room to keep putting band-aids over this team. By signing high priced players we've not only tied up millions in salaries we've also been giving up our draft picks. We lost our 1st and 2nd round picks this year for signing Lee and Williams. We haven't been getting any picks for losing free agents and we haven't picked up any extra picks by trading away our aging veterans. With less and less young talent coming in, how does anyone expect us to keep winning for the rest of eternity? And Berkman seems to have caught whatever has been plaguing Everett and Lane.
i'm not suggesting we settle. but i am suggesting that mediocre got the Cards a WS banner last year. you play with what you've got and you try to give yourself a chance to win every game. i would love huge upgrades right away...but that's not gonna happen.
I agree with the above. Nonetheless, we would not have to 'play with what we have' if the management (i.e. Pupura) had not been so incompetent in the last 2 years. The players have played badly; but Pupura/Garner have put us in the position of relying on bad players.
less than 2 seasons ago we were in the world series with this team...albeit with a different pitching staff and sans carlos lee and hunter pence.
I was not 'WTF' writing about Berkman. I was writing about players like Ensberg, Ausmus, and Everett who offensive problems have continued for several years.
you mean the same players who were starters on the only pennant-winning team in the Astros history, right?
Everett's defense is a big help... this team would be much worse off defensively without him. If guys like Berkman were doing their job, he'd be fine in the 8 hole. Ensberg, even though he was an MVP candidate 2 years ago, has been a dissapointment. What does the club do? They play Lamb down the stretch at 3B last year, sign Loretta in the off-season, and make him the primary 3B once Ensberg has shown he'll struggle this year too. What else do you want them to do? Ausmus' only use is his handling of the pitching staff. He's now lost his job. I still don't see Munson making all that big a difference if the big boys aren't hitting.
Justice's latest says Munson will get every opportunity to get lots of playing time. If that means Ausmus will only catch Roy and possibly Woody, so be it. None of it matters if Lance isn't performing like he should. Hell, its still going to come down to pitching for this team, and right now its either the starters or bullpen letting this team down.
No see...adding Pettite and Clemens will not make the offense better...besides our starting rotation has been just fine for the most part. If you want to talk about moves Purp has made that have not panned out, then don't use this one as an example. Purp has made some decent moves, some have worked some haven't...but I do think he needs to be given this offseason to see if he can reshape this roster. My only gripes with Garner and his coaching staff is that I have seen way too many mental errors from a team that is normally sound in that dept. Can't really fault him too much for all the offensives struggles, especially since he's tried countless lineups to jumpsart those bats. How bout blaming the players? Maybe? Lance I'm looking squarely at you? If you haven't felt comfortable at the plate all season, then find a f***ing way to get comfortable. Need to recite some Penthouse letters while you're up there like in Major League II, then go right ahead...but just start hitting already.
The Astros going to the World Series in 2005 had NOTHING to do with the offensive abilities Brad Ausmus (except for the home run against Atlanta in the playofs) and Adam (can't bat my average) Everett.
